Chisum and friends try to close gap

When a young Sam Rayburn was running for the Texas House in the early years of the 20th century, he and his opponent often campaigned together. One would make his pitch while the other waited his turn, and then they would travel to the next little North Texas town and do it all over again.

Longtime Texas House member Warren Chisum, now a Republican runoff candidate for the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, is trying a variation on that theme. Campaigning to make up ground against the winner of his race, Austin attorney Christi Craddick, he’s flying around the state this week with two of his five former opponents in tow.

Chisum got 27.5 percent of the vote. In her first run for public office, Craddick, 41, got 36 percent.

“All of us got along really well,” said Becky Berger, a Schulenberg geologist who finished third in the race with 11.9 percent of the vote. “We vowed from the start to make it a race about the issues. . . . It was kind of family-like.”

Berger was with Chisum on an early-morning stop at the Chronicle. Houston lawyer Roland Sledge, who finished fourth with 9.9 percent, listened in via speaker phone and planned to join Chisum after his Chronicle meeting.

“We’re going before the Sunset Commission again,” Berger said, “and we will be approached and probably persecuted by the EPA, and Warren has testified before the EPA. He’s been on the Sunset Commission before, so he’s going to have an advantage as to how to handle that and what they’re going to need to see, he’ll be prepared for. It’s just a matter of experience.”

Chisum, 73, owns a Pampa-based energy company, Omega, and sits on the board of several other energy companies.

Experience was paramount for Sledge, as well. “I’m a 35-year oil and gas lawyer and energy executive, and it takes one to know one,” he said. “I’ve see a lot of them over the years, and Warren is an oilman. The reason I’m endorsing him is that he has the depth and breadth of experience that is far superior to his opponent.”

Chisum is not used to losing. One of the more outspoken social conservatives in the Texas Legislature, he was first elected to the House 24 years ago and except for his very first race, he’s never faced serious opposition. He blames his second-place finish on Craddick’s name — she’s the daughter of longtime state Rep. Tom Craddick, a former speaker — and her money.

Craddick, 41, raised more than $1 million, more than three times Chisum’s $375,000. She also has the support of San Antonio physician and conservative activist James Leininger and Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.

The runoff winner will face the Democratic nominee, Dale Henry, 80, of Lampasas. Henry ran unsuccessfully for railroad commissioner in 2006 and 2008 and ran unopposed in 2012.